I'M proud to live and work in sunny Mackay, where for the past 10 years my business partner and I have headed up a firm that provides electrical, energy, and manufacturing services to mining, construction and agriculture firms.
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Our business started out as a team of six, contracting qualified electricians to the mining sector and for residential solar installations. But things look quite different today. Not only has our workforce grown to between 60 and 80 staff, we have also diversified into renewable energy solutions like solar carports while continuing our mining services work. Perhaps the biggest and most exciting change is that we have taken our manufacturing facility in Paget entirely "off the grid", with an 100kW-kilowatt solar, 200kWh Tesla battery storage system and a backup gas-fired micro-turbine generator.
That means that everything we fabricate-from handrails to large steel structures-is powered by free energy from the sun. This has been great for our business.
First and foremost, it is much cheaper to run our operations off solar than electricity from coal or gas. When we made the decision to make the substantial up-front investment in our solar and battery system two years ago, we calculated it would pay itself off in six and a half years. We also feel the benefit whenever there is a power outage. Our operations continue uninterrupted, and we often don't even realise there is an outage until our neighbours complain.
Our clients and staff also feel proud to work with a business that is leading on environmental solutions. Our journey doesn't stop here. With the equipment to generate renewable hydrogen becoming cheaper, we hope to replace our minimal gas use with hydrogen, and become 100 per cent renewables-powered in the next 12 months.
It has been a difficult year for all Australians, but switching to renewables has set our business up to weather the economic storm of COVID-19, and to continue our growth. If all goes to plan, we're looking at doubling our workforce in the next three to five years. Our story may seem unique right now; but it doesn't need to be. Renewable energy makes sense for so many businesses; especially daytime manufacturing operations like ours. We're lucky to do business in the sunniest country on earth, and one of the windiest. We also have readily available clean technology solutions that are becoming cheaper every day.
I urge all business leaders to see if the switch to renewables makes sense for your company. You might find that a bright future is closer than you think.
Jason Sharam is the managing director of Linked Group Services.
